


The First Duty

by tornyourdress



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24552487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornyourdress/pseuds/tornyourdress
Summary: Dumbledore keeps an eye on Tom Riddle. It's a good distraction from what Grindelwald is up to.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald
Kudos: 15





	The First Duty

Your first duty is to the school. To Hogwarts. You repeat this over and over, and it saves you time and time again. It doesn’t matter if the Ministry disapprove of you, if such disapproval can nudge you into a different subject – from Defence Against the Dark Arts into Transfiguration (you are, you note and try not to be too proud of it, a polymath; it is not the hardship it would be for someone else) – because you are still at Hogwarts.

You do not want – no, rephrase – you know it is not wise for you to want greater things, greater power. You are safe here, guiding the next generation. Watching out for the next generation.

It is vital that you watch Tom. 

*

Every five or maybe ten years there is a pupil like Tom Riddle, at least as far as circumstances go. Lost to a bureaucratic Muggle system until the magic awakens and Hogwarts knows he belongs there. Then arrangements must be made: far more complicated in some ways, to work around a network of those designated to care, and in other ways far simpler, because there is nobody, you understand, as you step inside the orphanage, who really and truly cares what happens to this boy.

He unsettles you. Slightly, at first. More, later. 

Curious, how every item of news or gossip about Gellert Grindelwald makes you all the more aware of the need to stamp out dangerous ideals in today’s youth. 

Of course it is not curious at all. You cannot face him. So you contemplate what you _can_ do. 

*

Tom Riddle uncovers a secret within the school: a monster lurking within its walls. You know, as soon as you hear the details, that Hagrid cannot be to blame for anything other than a childlike wonder at magnificent beasts, that the murder within Hogwarts could not have been committed by the creature Hagrid was protecting. 

But you are not in charge here, and you are still – to some – a figure of suspicion. Your one-time friendship with Gellert, that summer you both yearn to forget and relive, is known, to some. Dippet is certainly aware, and he keeps you at a distance. Just in case your adolescent self might emerge from your staid exterior, a butterfly exploding from a chrysalis, and say something you shouldn’t. 

It is frustrating. What else would you say other than suggesting that Dippet look closer, that things are not always what they seem?

You imagine your argument with him over and over again. Focusing on Tom Riddle may be obsessive, but it is easier than – 

*

The reality of what Gellert does now only ever comes in flashes, snippets. Your soul cannot handle much more than that. 

Oh, you are such a fool for having ever trusted him! He knows things about you no other living creature does. He knows your secrets. He knows your heart. 

Oh, what a relief to be called into a meeting with the Charms professor about Tom Riddle’s behaviour! A touch of insouciance not meriting punishment beyond the half-scroll of lines doled out, and even though you know that it will be one of Tom’s friends – or those boys who fondly imagine themselves to be his friends – who will actually complete the task, you can’t quite bring yourself to intervene beyond sympathizing with a colleague. 

You are keeping an eye on things. You are keeping order at Hogwarts.

Please let no one notice it is not enough.

*

Some nights you wake up and imagine Gellert is there next to you. You reach out and are surprised, bereft, at the void. 

*

Your first duty is to the school. When Tom Riddle leaves, you scan and assess the incoming students for another potential danger. 

The world is on fire and you are seeking out a naughty teenager. Part of you is all too aware of this. Another part says: that Ravenclaw student with the shifty eyes – watch out for her! 

*

Someday you will not be able to avoid it. Someday you will have to confront him. A new Tom has not yet emerged, and there are still so many questions over what might happen to him, what he might make happen. 

Someday you will need to stand before Gellert and tell him that he is wrong. You must not beg. You remind yourself of this often, because all of the usual norms fly out the window where he is concerned. You must not plead with him. You must attempt to persuade, to reason, and if that does not work you must defeat him.

You know the day is coming. But for now, your first duty is to the school, and you scrutinise the new batch of first-years once more, hoping to find another potential dark wizard to monitor, protected within the walls of this castle. 

Properly impenetrable walls, unlike those of your heart.


End file.
